Osceola cuts $4 million from budget with employee furloughs

Entire departments will be closed for days while employees are on two-week leave

July 12, 2010|By Jeannette Rivera-Lyles, Orlando Sentinel

KISSIMMEE — Most of Osceola County's 1,563 employees will have to take two weeks off without pay in the next fiscal year.

County commissioners Monday instructed County Manager Don Fisher to incorporate the furloughs into the budget as a cost-cutting measure that will save an estimated $4 million.

The furloughs will affect operations countywide and be structured so that entire departments — from libraries to code enforcement and animal control — will shut down for days while its employees are off. That strategy saves more money than staggering time off, Fisher said.

The county's budget must shrink by $32 million over the current fiscal year's, primarily because declining property values have generated less property-tax revenue.

Only Osceola's fire and corrections departments will continue to operate uninterrupted, although their employees would not necessarily be exempt from furloughs.

"We're in the process of defining right now how we're going to do this," Fisher said. "We'll prepare a schedule and will reach out to educate the community about the changes."

Fisher's announcement came two weeks after Osceola's Fire Chief Richard Collins told county commissioners he would need to lay off 56 firefighters and demote at least another dozen to balance his budget. Collins is expecting about $4 million less from the county's fire fee, paid by county residential and commercial property owners. If the County Commission doesn't make up for the difference, two fire stations — one near St. Cloud and another in Harmony — will also have to close, Collins said.

Other proposed cost-cutting measures include changes to employees' health insurance. A new plan for the upcoming fiscal year that raises deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses for all employees will save the county another $4 million, Fisher said.

Last year, Osceola County laid off more than 100 employees and froze dozens of open positions to make ends meet. The new fiscal year begins October 1.